Report: Just 6% of civil service is Arab ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Tali Heruti-Sover - June 21, 2012 - 12:00am The ad campaign to encourage hiring Arab employees has generated hundreds of requests by private businesses for Arab workers. But it turns out that government ministries, which are behind the campaign, have what to be embarrassed about. » Read more

PA fines date traders for selling settlement produce ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 21, 2012 - 12:00am JERICHO (Ma'an) -- PA consumer protection officials fined two traders in the West Bank for selling dates from Israeli settlements in violation of the government's boycott, a press statement said Wednesday. The dealers, from Jericho and Tulkarem, were ordered to pay $11,900 shekels ($3,000) and sign a commitment not to sell settlement goods, the consumer protection unit of the national economy ministry said. » Read more

Olympic Spirit Calls for Memorial ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Jessica Apple - (Opinion) June 20, 2012 - 12:00am Recently, I sat with my sons in our Tel Aviv apartment and watched a documentary about the massacre at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972. Five days before the end of the games, eight Palestinian terrorists from the group Black September broke into the Olympic Village, killing two Israelis and taking nine others hostage. The Palestinians demanded the release of more than 200 prisoners from Israel. In an ensuing battle, all nine Israeli hostages were killed. » Read more

Palestinian refugees with dream of returning home after 64 years ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua June 21, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian refugee Abdel Majid al- Mabhouh, 81, does not understand the ongoing complexities in politics, but only keeps in mind his right to return to his house and his village that he was forced to leave during the 1948 Arab- Israeli war with his family. » Read more

Principle and pragmatism demand an end to Gaza blockade ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Diab - (Opinion) June 20, 2012 - 12:00am Thursday marked the fifth anniversary of Israel’s imposition of a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. Although the land, sea and air blockade has not made Israelis any safer or enhanced Israel’s security, it has had a clear humanitarian and economic impact on Gazans. » Read more

Israel: "all options" open after Iran talks fail ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters June 20, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM, June 20 (Reuters) - Israel responded on Wednesday to a lack of progress in talks aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear programme by demanding that the West impose stiffer economic sanctions on Tehran and hinting anew that a military option was still on the table. Six world powers and Iran failed to secure a breakthrough at talks in Moscow this week, the third round under the latest diplomatic initiative, and set no date for more political negotiations. » Read more

Israel eyes landfill site for Bedouin nomads ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Jihan Abdalla - June 20, 2012 - 12:00am Bedouin tents and wandering goats dot the barren hills on the drive from Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea, giving residents and visitors a glimpse of how the Holy Land must have looked in ancient times. With their corrals, water cisterns and tractors the camps look more like rudimentary homesteads. But the Bedouin tradition is slowly dying out as Israel clears the camps to make way for expanding Jewish urban settlements. » Read more

They started it ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) June 21, 2012 - 12:00am This time there is no argument - they started it. This time one can say with certainty that Gaza Kindergarten started the brawl and Israel Kindergarten in the south continued. That's how it is with quarreling kindergarten children. » Read more

Hamas signals ready for truce after Israel kills 2 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters June 20, 2012 - 12:00am Gaza militants said on Wednesday they were ready to sign up to an Egyptian-brokered truce to end three days of cross-border fighting after Israeli air strikes killed a Palestinian militant and a 14-year-old boy. In a statement, the militant wing of the Islamist Hamas group in control of Gaza said: "Responding to the Egyptian efforts, we and the armed resistance announce our commitment to stop this round of confrontation as long as the occupation stops this aggression." » Read more

Israeli President Shimon Peres discusses Syria and Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Lally Weymouth - (Interview) June 15, 2012 - 12:00am President Obama presented the Medal of Freedom to Israeli President Shimon Peres at a dinner at the White House on Wednesday. The last surviving founder of the state of Israel, Peres went on to serve as prime minister and leader of the Labor Party, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for his role in the Oslo Accords, the first Israeli agreement with the Palestinians. The morning after the White House dinner, Peres sat down with The Washington Post’s Lally Weymouth at Blair House to discuss Syria, Iran and U.S. presidents from Kennedy to Obama. Excerpts: » Read more